electrcity free ways to keep hens cozy in the northern climates

[jab91864]

So far I am stacking snow as a wind break along the chicken yard fence line. I have two coops, neither has electricity. One of the coops sits up off the ground. I have used snow and straw bales to close off the underside to drafts on 3-sides. The other side is open about 2 ft but faces the other coop so it is sheltered from the wind.

The other coop has a flat metal roof. I have tarped it and stacked bales of straw on the top for some insulation.

Both coops have pine shavings, then that is topped off with atleast a foot of straw. I use my rake and shift the bedding about once in a while, adding a little more straw.

I change the water before work in the early morning. My son changes it during the afternoon. I have a smaller water bowl in each coop and like the idea of having a hand warmer under it once the temps drop below zero, so thanks for that tip !!!

Usually in the mornings I try to give them something warm...oatmeal or baked potatoes along with scratch and filling their feeders inside the coops. My son tops off the feeders when he does water and locks them up for me in the evening now since it is dark when I finally arrive home from work.

On the weekends I can baby them a little bit more and give them extra treats because I am home. I tell myself chickens have survived extreme conditions since the beginning of time and as long as I keep them dry and draft free they will be fine. But I do confess I worry about them.

~Julie

 

[kayri]

Julie, where are you located? I like to hear that there are people north of me with unheated coops so I can tell my chickens that they don''t have it so bad

. It's the chicken equivalent of "Eat your dinner, there are starving people in _______."

Here in coastal RI they are predicting a warmer -upper 30's (but wet) week.

 

[siouxbee]

I'm in central CT with 10 chooks in a 4 x 8 coop that sits atop a 4 x 8 "run" that is thickly lined with mulched tree leaves. The coop part is shallow -- only 3 feet tall at its highest, so I'm hoping that while it's too small for the flock, that will come in handy this winter to keep them warm. The roost is only about 6 inches off the floor, but is probably about 4 inches wide, and just about long enough for all of them to sit on it. I know these measurements break all the suggested rules, but they free range during the day, and I'm really hoping that the smallness will help keep them warm. I need to clean their coop, but am thinking of trying to rake out just concentrated areas of poop, and leave what pine shavings I can, and just add to that, to help insulate the flooring.

You can see pics of all this, since it sounds confusing here in my original post about the construction:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=9946&p=2


The plastic corrugated roofing panels blew off in a storm a few weeks ago, and hubby leaned them up against the hardware cloth that lines 2 of the 4 sides of their small "run" underneath the coop. The 4 foot side (faces west) is a panel of plywood which serves as the door, and the other 8 foot side (faces north) has plywood running all along it, except 4 inches at the top. I need to put the roofing back on, and permanently, because the shed roof lets some water leak down the inside of the doors, but maybe I'll get some more and line the bottom on the south and east sides so that they can see out, but have sun come in. It's pretty small though and they don't spend much time in there during the day.

I let them stay in the coop til 11 or so when it's had a chance to "warm" up a little bit from early morning lows, and then they seem to filter back in by 5 at the latest these dark days. In the am I usually have leftovers from dinner, and they seem to eat them greedily, tho they do appreciate leftover hot cereal -- usually oatmeal or 10 grain type mush.

I bought one of those black rubber bowls because the metal waterer was just icing over way too quickly. It works beautifully so far, tho it hasn't stayed super cold for too long yet. The ice pops out nicely and I try to fill it with warm water hoping that it will take longer to freeze.

I toss them a few handfuls of scratch around 4:30 or so because I'd read somewhere that having to digest that will help generate heat as well. Not sure if that's true, but they seem to enjoy the treat anyway.

Anyway, you're not alone. I worry about them all the time, but haven't done the petroleum thing yet. My wyandotte roo has a rose comb, and while I don't know what you call the silkie roo comb, it looks pretty compact, so it's more wattles that I worry about. But I can't even imagine the comedy routine that would ensue should I decide to undertake the gouping of the wattles. Perhaps I should make the attempt and film it for your enjoyment. ;-)

Good luck!
Siouxbee

 

[pmcres]

I'm in Ma... my coop has screen windows covered with plexiglass to let in light... we have the food and water in the coop, we plug a ceramic heater into a Therm o cube, which comes on when the coop temp goes below 30.. it is hanging above the waterer and has kept it from freezing. Last winter when it was extremely cold, I hung plastic strips over the small let out door and that helped a lot.

we clean out the woodchips weekly, and the waterer is on top of cement block so it doesn't get as dirty as it would if it was on the floor.


in the winter my chickens won't go outside if it's snowing or white on the ground...they stay pretty warm in the coop.

 

[picklespickles]

i looked at your coop. it was neat. reminded me of a beach house. with the top beign the house and the hang out place beign the bottom.

 

[ORChick]

Hi all. I was just reading in a European forum, and found this suggestion for a non-electric waterer. It sounds like it might work pretty well; I would be interested in hearing how it goes, if any of you try it.

Bury a metal bucket about 1/3 to 1/2 in the ground, put in it about 4 inches of clay cat litter (or, my suggestion, sand), put a (they call them grave lights in Germany - a candle in a glass; look in the Hispanic section of the supermarket) candle in the litter. Put a metal plate or tray over the top of the bucket, one that is slightly larger than the bucket diameter, and place the waterer on top. The writer suggested putting some nail holes in the bottom of the bucket, and loosening the soil underneath, and suggests that that would allow enough oxygen in to keep the flame alive. I think I would be tempted to put the holes on the side of the bucket. As clay litter, or sand, doesn't burn, and the bucket is buried sufficiently to keep it from tipping, it doesn't sound like it would be dangerous, but should put out enough heat to keep the water from freezing.

What do all of you experts think about this idea?

 

[kayri]

Sounds interesting, If the ground ever gets warm enough to dig a bucket into it again, I might give that a try, but we are frozen solid right now and next week is looking ugly. I might run a very long electric cord out to the coop and put a little heating pad in there, it is suppose to drop into the teens next week.

 

[valmom]

It is nasty cold already for December- our chickies aren't even coming out of their house except to look at the snow in disgust from the safety of their ramp then they go back in.

We put insulation around part of the interior of our coop, plastic over the windows, and a couple of hay bales in a square on the floor with loose hay inside the square (abot 4x4 feet). They tend to huddle together in the hay bale square, venture out of the hay to eat, and sleep in their nest boxes. We didn't put "real" electric in the house- we may re-think that this summer- but we ran an outdoor extension cord out from the house for a heated waterer.

So far, so good.

Oh, I wouldn't feed out hay from the hen house to my horses, either- the chickies make a real mess of it. They like playing king of the mountain on them.

 

[chickenranchwife]

Lots and lots of straw will help to insulate it. You can put bales of hay around the outside to help also.